CEO of local restaurant chain Island Grill and chairperson of the NCB Foundation, Thalia Lyn, has been a tireless champion of philanthropy in Jamaica and her deeds speak volumes about her commitment to the development of her country, Jamaica.

Below is an edited version of her presentation on stimulating growth and creating jobs in Jamaica made to the Rotary Club of Kingston at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, last week:

“Every Monday morning at our weekly Island Grill meetings, we begin with celebrations, but today I need to put things in perspective first.

Thanks to surveys, reporting agencies, post-Cabinet briefings, the media and the presentation made recently by Gassan Azan, we know the dismal truth about our economic environment. We’ve heard the facts and figures and while they are worth repeating, a simple summary of the situation is this:

(1) Jamaica is drowning in a huge trillion-dollar government debt burden.

(2) Our GDP — the most straightforward measure of our country’s overall economic performance — has been less than one per cent over the last 30 years; declining for the last three.

(3) The Prime Minister has told us plainly that: “The world is going through a kind of economic turbulence that it has not seen in 50 years.” That, coupled with existing problems we face here in Jamaica on a daily basis — high crime, shortage of an educated/skillstrained labour force, and a bureaucracy that strangles local investment.

(4) World conditions, which force us to wait on promised investment projects to come on stream and deliver some of the 50,000 jobs we need to create every year.

(5) The reality is, the days of relying on government jobs are fading.

While, I hate public speaking and had to be coerced into doing so, any discussion on: ‘How we can stimulate growth and create jobs’ is an engaging topic for me because in each of my roles — as a Jamaican grandmother, CEO of Island Grill, Chairman of the NCB Foundation, Board Member of the Mustard Seed Communities and Honorary Consul General for the Kingdom of Thailand — more jobs means a better Jamaica.

More jobs mean a larger pool of trained talent to fill vacancies. It means more customers, it means more industries and trading partners, and it means there is a future for our country.

We all believe Jamaica is worth saving, but we have got to change.

Professor Richard Curtin says that business optimism rose to the highest level since the third quarter of 2007, but don’t get excited. Positive growth after three years of an economy in decline, means that jobs will still remain scarce. Jamaica has a debt to GDP ratio of around 130 per cent, the fourth highest in the world. And we know that more government money channelled in the same old ways will not solve our economic problems. Our future requires that we “wheel and come again”, but how do we change?

Before we go there, let’s have a celebration.

(1) Crime is the greatest deterrent to any business, or foreign investor, or tourist. Murders are reportedly down 15 per cent for 2010. My friend (and Jamaica’s), EU Ambassador Marco Alemanni has his own calculation. He says, post-Dudus, comparing the last six months of 2009 to 2010, it’s double that, more like 30 per cent. This figure isn’t validated, but it certainly makes good press and I’d love to believe this.

(2) Jamaica was the largest recipient of EU development funds in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2009 and obtained an increase from $9 billion to $9.2 billion in 2010, mainly because some budget support and debt reduction programmes were implemented.

Hopefully, since there’s a reduction in crime, there’ll be another increase in 2011! One project undertaken was a reduction in state bureaucracy, which Gassan Azan rightly points out is definitely not business-friendly. The EU has called for “removing public governance obstacles for a simplification of business procedures”. Don’t you just love the language?!

Ambassador Alemanni asserts there has been some success. The 90-day window to obtain building permits from the KSAC has been achieved. (Did that happen with SweetTings, Gassan?) The second phase of funding will address a programme with a similar 90-day window to register a business, which will be most helpful to all the budding entrepreneurs. That’s good news.

We’re in a much better position as a country than we were a year ago, at least from my vantage point. People ate more jerk chicken, although we had to be innovative and add more value meals to keep customers coming in. I’m going to leave the macroeconomics to the captains of industry and concentrate on what I understand better, the micro.

I’d like to suggest that philanthropy could be one of the most relevant and immediately responsive solutions to create jobs. Philanthropy underscores the basic rule of free enterprise — you must give in order to get.

Developing our greatest resource: People

It’s time to really and truly invest in Jamaica’s greatest asset, our people. It’s time for us to convert some of that investment capital into “caring capital”, even if it’s a risk. It’s time for us to help that huge number of unemployed to acquire a skill. It’s time to concentrate on training centres instead of highways. It’s time for the Development Bank and other such lending agencies to take a little more risk with those who need it most, offering affordable interest rates and assistance with business plans.

In addition to focusing on small businesses which, when not being choked by the lack of access to credit and capital and burdensome taxes, can create new jobs every year, and recapturing the rights to Brand Jamaica (which international entrepreneurs have taken as their own and benefited more from than we have), we have to find innovative ways to educate and retrain our labour force.

Our two most prominent Jamaican-Canadian billionaires were honoured separately in Canada for philanthropic excellence. They both share a focus on education and believe passionately in teaching a man to fish.

The biggest giver, however, is the United States of America where philanthropy is working harder and more creatively than ever to put Americans back to work. The Obama administration recently recognised the powerful potential of The 21st Century Workforce Fund — a foundation committed to financing and initiating programmes that will educate America’s 21st century workforce and prepare them for changes in the global and local economies.

The American government awarded that organisation a two-year, $7.7-million Social Innovation Fund grant that will be matched by an additional $13 million provided by 24 communities. It will help at least 23,000 people gain the skills to meet the needs of more than 1,000 employers.

These are the kinds of innovative approaches that build and strengthen a community’s greatest asset — its people.

Many of you know already the KIVA story. A micro-financing agency that connects international donors with entrepreneurs via the Internet, KIVA started in 2004 with $3,500 in funding and six years later became a $200-million enterprise that helps the world’s poorest people lift themselves out of poverty.

KIVA has funded 482,600 entrepreneurs and enjoys a 98 per cent repayment rate because the people at KIVA believe and operate under two principles:

(1) People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way.

(2) The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity.

I’m not suggesting that we take a welfare approach to filling the gap, but I’m challenging us all — the government, corporate and private Jamaica — to fully exercise our civic responsibilities and invest more in our people. Let me showcase for a few minutes what the local philanthropic efforts — the NCB Foundation, the Private Sector Coalition YUTE initiative, and the Mustard Seed Communities — have produced.

NCB Foundation & the Cathedral Restoration

It’s topical today to bash banks and their so-called high fees. I have to declare my interest and tell you that I’m on the board of one such bank, and yes I personally get a lot of bashing about “your bank”! But I’m proud to be on the board because at the end of the day we can’t be forever dependent on international funding agencies like the EU. The tax contribution from the two largest banks, and the employment they provide, is very important to the Jamaican economy. So, stop blaming the banks and buy some shares instead, and I’ll tell you why.

The NCB Foundation, funded originally through a percentage of Key Card sales, is now funded through a percentage of National Commercial Bank’s profit, and you personally would feel good as a shareholder to know that for the past three years, we have spent over $200 million on Education, Youth Leadership, Community Development and Sports. This financial year it will probably be $100 million.

To be employed, you have to have a skill, an education. What’s the sense of creating jobs, of inviting investors to Jamaica, if we don’t have persons to fill those jobs because they’re untrained, uneducated, or unproductive? This is why since 2003, the NCB Foundation has continued to pay CXC CSEC fees for Principles of Business and Principles of Accounts. In 2010, we paid for over 4,500 students, awarded 262 scholarships, supported skills training for over 250 trainees and partnered with the JMA’s “Buy Jamaica, Build Jamaica” campaign to give assistance to bright, young entrepreneurs. We insist that our scholarship recipients commit to community service as well.

One project, which demonstrates the most tangible and lasting effects of philanthropy as a way to improve the socio-economic and physical environment of downtown Kingston was the NCB Foundation’s involvement in the restoration of the historical heritage landmark — The Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The magnificent murals in the dome and ceiling and all the walls of the 100-year-old cathedral had been obliterated by three layers of grey paint. A chance conversation with then Spanish Ambassador Jesus Silva revealed that there was a Spanish expert, a Prof Barriga, who could restore the murals.

With other major donors, such as the CHASE Fund and Digicel, the NCB Foundation committed $3 million to the project through a skills training programme, which was also funded, monitored and became a HEARTcertified course. Msgr Ken Richards insisted that we employ from within the community. Seventy persons from the surrounding area were hired, 34 of them learned entrepreneurial and job training skills and proudly graduated with HEART/NCTVET certificates in Restoration Techniques. It was a sight to see them in their caps and gowns in the cathedral on graduation day. I must add that we had a similar graduation at Island Grill — 98 of our 110 IG team were certified in an Enterprise-based Training collaborative effort with HEART.

The economic activity generated by the restoration of the cathedral, enabled some from the surrounding communities to provide for their families well-being and vindicated my being told by a prominent businessman that my efforts were best spent feeding hungry children than fixing up an old building. We indeed fed many, but more heartwarming was the feeling of pride that was instilled in these people, one of whom said: “When my yute and his yute, in more years, see dis, dem know is their fada work on it.”

Another such moment was when Queen Isabella of Spain toured the cathedral during her visit in 2009 and Neville Arthurs, one of the graduates, in his speech said (I forgot the exact words): “Madam Queenie, tek note and tell everybody, good tings can come out of the ghetto. Ah we do dis work.” Not only did he do the work, he learned a trade. Now Neville and some of his co-workers have moved on to another project — restoring the St James Cathedral in Spanish Town. Another one of the workers, Keeble Allen, has remained at the cathedral as the caretaker.

This is just one example of the many philanthropic projects undertaken by the NCBF, which created 70 jobs and helped 34 persons from an inner-city community to acquire a skill. There are many such Foundations and private individuals who are already on this path. I encourage you to join them.

YUTE Initiative

I want to take this opportunity to “big up” the Youth Upliftment Through Employment (YUTE) programme, a private sector-led initiative. This multimillion-dollar intervention programme targets some of the root causes of crime, violence and unemployment impacting young people, through a 30-month programme that will improve the participants’ marketability, provide some 13,000 work experience or internship opportunities and facilitate entrepreneurial development.

More than 2,200 young people from eight inner-city communities in Kingston and St Andrew are expected to benefit from this programme. To fund it, the PSOJ will access $874 million for the first phase from government-run programmes, contributions, and financing from the private sector and international donors.

This collective capital represents the belief in the potential of inner-city youth to make a solid contribution to the future of Jamaica.

At the end of the two-year period the programme anticipates that 1,300 of the participants should have permanent jobs, or otherwise valuable work experience that will make them marketable and nearly 200 will establish their own businesses.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is an example of what philanthropy can do. But it will only be achieved if we take seriously our corporate social responsibility and each and every one of you contribute to this massive effort for job creation.

Mustard Seed Communities

Hands down, Msgr Ramkissoon is my Man of the Year! On Christmas Day, the Mustard Seed Communities fed 5,000 people on the streets of Kingston (cooking all those meals created jobs, even if only for one day!). Every day of life, the MSC cares for, feeds, clothes and provides shelter, for over 450 of our most vulnerable — abandoned and disabled children and young adults, children with HIV/AIDS and pregnant teenagers. Within its 12 homes, the MSC employs a cadre of some 450 people — almost a 1:1 ratio. The MSC is the largest NGO employer in the Caribbean and operates the only paediatric HIV/AIDS homes.

In an effort to be self-sustainable, persons have been trained by the late Cecil Baugh to create beautiful pottery, others to make cards out of banana bark, some to farm and raise chickens. I spoke to one of the three card-makers yesterday. Business is slow, so she only takes home $1,500 weekly and she wants to work.

My friends, create more employment; buy some MSC cards. Christmas is over, create employment, use the pottery for your corporate gifts. Your philanthropy creates jobs and makes these people feel useful. Kevin washes cars in the community, he charges $300. If he cleans the interior, he charges $700. He does this manually, and he’s saving up to buy a power washer and a vacuum so he can get the job done more quickly and earn more money. I’m not saying you must take your car to Mahoe Drive to be washed (how many of you even know where Mahoe Drive is?), but Msgr has up to 60 people coming to him daily for advice on how to survive, how to find a job.

He has a theory. You can give one of the three T’s:

(1) Time: Would you be willing to give an hour or two per month to maybe advise even five of the 60 people he sees daily?

(2) Treasure: Can you dig into your treasure and buy some cards, or pottery, or a car vacuum?

(3) Talent: Doctors, dentists, lawyers, businesspersons — can you help one person start a business or lead a healthier life?

Msgr has developed what he calls a Poor Man’s Co-op, based on Professor Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank concept. The 450 employees are allowed to borrow after they’ve made deposits for a year. It has become self-funding and there has been no delinquency. He has even opened it up to non-employees, and if you look in his storeroom, you might find a tape recorder or TV that is being held as collateral.

Next week, MSC is having its annual strategy meeting. Taking time to fly in are the USA-based board members, chairman and CEO of Time Inc, chairman of ESPN, senior managing director of Providence Equity, and I could go on. They are humbled to be part of this organisation and would love to duplicate the model in the USA. This is where the micro can become the macro.

Thailand & Agricultural Projects

Unfortunately, however, there are those opportunities that arise out of private initiatives for public good that are not acted upon.

As many of you know, Thailand and Jamaica have similar geography and climate and we grow many of the same crops, for example, coconut, cassava, sugar and shrimp. In fact, GraceKennedy purchases some 40 trailers of coconut water every month for system-wide distribution. The only difference is that whatever we grow, Thailand does it better and their expertise allows nearly 60 million Thai people to live off the land and feed themselves. We used to have a viable coconut industry.

The Government of Thailand made an offer to Jamaica: send your people, we will train them. Perhaps we were daunted by the distance between Thailand and Jamaica, but this was not an opportunity to be missed. When we receive invitations for free training and exposure to the techniques which have enabled them to become one of the largest world agricultural exporters, we need to take notice and access their assistance. And if in the short term the donors want to send their workers (in particular those workers that don’t strike) we should accept that condition and look to the long-term benefits of accessing donor-advised funds. Because you know what? We really need the money.

Conclusion

I stated the problems and they are reiterated over and over. Aside from the private sector resuming their Partnership for Progress talks and compelling government and opposition to sit at a table and collaborate to formulate a sustained economic plan, with timeframes, there will continue to be 50,000 more people entering the job market every year and the 400,000 people who have stopped looking for work just “hanging in there”. But do the math, in this presentation alone, and I’m no whiz, I’ve delivered over 2,000 employment solutions, which could almost be instantaneous.

And philanthropy is such a “feel good” method that can be used as a means to help accelerate economic recovery. It’s a powerful, flexible and convenient tool and does more than just put money into people’s pockets. It creates a positive, civic-oriented mindset and encourages social responsibility.

The returns on GDP would be greater if focus is given to raising the social standards of our people which correlates with the general “What’s In It For Me” human mentality.

We would see an increase in engagement and motivation to work and output should be greater. Given the impact on our community and workforce, it makes great economic sense to strengthen and support our philanthropic and non-profit sectors.

We most definitely must give if we are to get.”